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My eBay account was just taken over (1 Viewer)

James T

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It really sucks. I check my e-mail frequently and I have never gotten a notice from eBay saying I placed an item for bidding. Does this mean my e-mail account has been compromised as well? I've already e-mailed eBay about it. I'm going on a blitz tonight changing passwords(using a differnt PC, just in case).....this just scares me too! I do quite a bit of online shopping and banking.

Any other hints on what to do after a situation like this? Should I end the auction right now(22 hours left) or should I change all my passwords then end the auction just in case the hacker gets a little peeved at what happened?
 

SethH

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Very interesting. Last Friday this same thing happened to a guy that works at my university. He had his email open on Friday morning and suddenly started receiving emails for auctions "he" had listed on eBay. When all was said and done the person had listed over 30 auctions. The person then changed his password so he was locked out. He emailed every address he could find for eBay faud and got a response within a few hours and they locked the account.

If I were you, the very first thing I'd do is clean out my PayPal account. I'd change the password and then remove the connections to my bank accounts and such until this passes over. And definitely keep emailing ebay. You might also email the bidders and let them know that it's a fraud.
 

Eric Peterson

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I had this happen about two years ago.

Some hacker stole my Ebay account and my mail.com account. Ebay was very cooperative and restored my access almost immediately, but mail.com was absolutely atrocious. They continually accused me of being the hacker and wouldn't restore my account. If anybody uses these assholes, pull out while you can

I ended up creating a new E-mail account on yahoo, and creating an incredibly complex password. Then I went to every single website that I could think of where I had a log-in (At least 20 different sites), and I updated the E-mail address and used my new incredibly secure password.

I also bought a good firewall and spyware program for my computer and it found dozens of spyware programs, and I wouldn't doubt if that is how my information was stolen. (I can't stress strongly enough how important this part is.)

Since then, I have had no other problems.

When is our government going to get it's shit together and start making this a punishable crime? If you steal somebody's wallet, you'll go to jail, and this is exactly the same thing.:angry:
 

Julian Reville

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As soon as we start electing people who actually use computers to do things, instead of just telling their secretary to do it.

I agree with you. Hacking should be a capital offense.
 

Colton

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I think most of these "takeovers" happen because people respond to the fake ebay emails that ask them to sign-in and review their account. Fake ebay websites that steal the information and then the accounts are hijacked. Ebay never requests your information and always double-check that you are on the official and valid ebay website before signing in. I get 50+ fake ebay emails a month and the funny thing is that these fake ebay websites will accept any false information you type in.

- Colton
 

James T

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I know what you mean about the fake e-mails, but believe me, I've never responded or clicked on any links. It's been close to 12 hours and eBay still hasn't either called me or responded to my e-mails.
 

Joe Szott

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I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago James. It isn't due to you clicking on any fake websites or email messages, it just happens.

Get into online chat with an eBay rep (they provide this service, search their site a bit) and they will set you back up. Usually they cancel any transactions during that period and give you a new password.

The good news is they probably only have your eBay password. I never had any other identity theft problems after that and I watched my accounts like a hawk for a good 2-3 months. The big one to change the password on would be PayPal (esp. if it is the same as your eBay password.)
 

James T

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I'll look around on eBay for that live chat thing. And my Paypal password is different from my eBay password(I still changed it, just to be safe). But if this happened last year, I would have been screwed as my eBay/Paypal password were the same.
 

SethH

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Have you run a good spyware destroyer on your computer? If you didn't respond to any of the emails then it may be that someone has a nasty piece of spyware -- like a keystroke logger -- installed on your machine. If so, you need to get rid of it ASAP.
 

James T

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I've searched using Spybot and even any virus with AVG and oth came up empty.
I may end up buying a program tonight just to be safe. Should I do a clean format as well or is that taking it a bit far?
 

ChristopherG

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James - sorry to hear about the hassle you are having. This type of thing really chaps my ass. Thanks for posting this though as I was probably too lax in my own ebay/pp security. That's one of things you gotta love about the After Hours Lounge!!
 

SethH

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I'm not sure if it would be worth it or not. If Spybot S&D came up empty then that shows you keep your pc pretty clean. I haven't ever looked into how much better the spyware programs are that you have to pay for.

I don't think a reformat is necessary right now. I guess it would give you a little more peace about the situation, but I doubt it would help you out too much.
 

Carl Johnson

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Have you tried running Spybot (and your antivirus program) in safe mode? It's as slow as molasses but I do regularly because it almost always uncovers a program or three that would have otherwise gone undetected.
 

Bryan X

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BrianW

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Is everyone here a Windows user? Installing Linux and using it for web and email access is a good way to go. You can dual-boot, if you can't abandon Windows, and you'll be virtually immune to spyware, viruses, and trojans.
 

James T

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I finished a live chat with someone at eBay since I still haven't received a response from my emails last night. I had someone contact the "seller" questioning why they ended the auction early and got a response along the lines that he had a BIN buyer, but he back out and offered it to the person who contacted him. The "seller" gave up his bank info saying that he doesn't accept Paypal, but wire transfers are okay. I just forwarded all the info to eBay. They said they'll forward it to the FBI, but no clue what they'll do, even if it looks like they have more than enough information to do something about it.
 

Chris Lockwood

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> When is our government going to get it's shit together and start making this a punishable crime?

It already is- what makes you think it's legal?
 

Eric Peterson

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When is the last time that somebody was arrested for it?

Maybe I ask the wrong question. When are they going to start enforcing the law?:D

I ran a spyware program the other day, and it found over 700 spyware programs on my system. There obviously isn't enough motivation to keep these assholes from continuing to write and distribute them.
 

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